Through The Cracks In The Ceiling
by LetMeWalkTheEarthWithYou
Summary: Season 6/ WARNING: Dark I guess/ -She looks away and down to the pigeons at her feet. Feels her life slipping through her fingers. And she wonders how long it will take before her reputation will be blown away, how long it will take for her relationship to be destroyed. For her life to be ruined all over again.-/ Teresa L.& Dennis A./ Patrick J./ Red John


**Disclamer: I own nothing, everything belongs to their rightful owners.**

**Warning: Well, just feel warned for almost everything and nothing. **

* * *

**Through The Cracks In The Ceiling**

**.**

**.**

The reason Teresa Lisbon wants to become a cop is simple.

She wants to be the one asking the questions instead of being the one questioned.

She has enough of living on the wrong side of town, enough of picking up her brothers at the police station because they stole chocolate at the grocery store.

And she has more than enough of being the victim of her father's pain, of being hit and having to lie to social services so she won't end up in an even messier foster home than her own.

She works hard to raise her brothers and to pay the bills. Keeps going to school, while working part time and studying her ass off to get a scholarship for college.

And even though she's half a child herself, she already knows she'll never be stupid enough to get pregnant or married. She's seen enough in her own home, in the house next door.

She's seen enough to know better than to fall for sweet nothings.

The hope of getting away from this neighborhood one day, to get out of this life by working hard enough is the only hope she has left.

.

She's on her way to the top, a bright future right in front of her when Patrick Jane walks into her life.

He takes over her team in a heartbeat, ruins her reputation in less than a month and it's almost funny how easyily everything starts to fall apart.

She drags him along because Minelli makes it clear that if she doesn't she'll get fired. She nods, tells Minelli that she understands even when she doesn't. Leans back and watches the grieving widower ruin everything she worked so hard for to get.

They scream and the yell at each other for good measure and keep pushing and pulling until they're both too exhausted to fight. They laugh and smile, make fun of each other and sometimes there's even a trust fall involved.

He saves her and she saves him, they lie for each other and leave each other behind countless times. They keep doing it for over a decade. Neither of them certain why.

If feels right, even though it's wrong. Feels good even though it shouldn't.

Sometimes he even allows her to catch a glimpse of the man he used to be and she can't help but think that the death of his family made him a better man.

Knows that if they had met before, she wouldn't have given him a second thought. Maybe not even a first.

.

It ends with Agent Abbott.

An FBI Agent, arrogant and cocky as hell and if Teresa Lisbon still had her gun she would have shot him.

He looks at her with a self-assured smile plastered over his face, accusing her of things he already knows she hasn't done. Scolds her like a child, makes her look like a schoolgirl in front of her former agents.

In return she acts like the stubborn teenage girl he claims her to be, like the spoiled kid she's never been. Tells him what he wants to hear. Knows he wouldn't believe the truth anyway.

And she wonders if it's possible that she'll get herself out of this mess if she confirms what everyone thinks anyway. After all she's done for Jane, the least he can do is offer her a lie.

When they tell her that it's over, that Red John is dead and Jane had run off to god knows where the only thing Teresa's able to do is laugh.

_Great,_ _after ten years she isn't even worth a lie._

_And Sheriff McAlister? Really?_

She shakes her head sure Jane got it all wrong, sure that this is just another sham Red John pulled off. Wouldn't be the first time.

McAlister maybe had been a part of the Blake Association, but he sure as hell hadn't been the one who scared them over a decade. That man wouldn't have been able to seduce woman after woman and collect so many people left and right. That man wouldn't have killed a little girl in her sleep just to prove a point.

And even though Abbott keeps telling her about evidence, Teresa already knows that they got it all wrong. Knows that one day the devil will rise from dead and come back to finish what he started.

She just hopes that when he does, she's the first one who gets killed.

It's the least she deserves.

.

Cannon River is the most beautiful and most boring place Teresa Lisbon has ever had to live.

But she won't give Agent Abbott the satisfaction of telling him that when he shows up on her doorstep one sunny morning to ask if she's heard from Jane.

Once again he's eyeing her up and down and she doesn't need to be a psychic to know that the only thing he really wants is to take her bent over her office desk.

She smiles politely back at him, shrugs and tells him that she still hasn't heard a thing.

_And why would she?_

He leaves with a shake of his head and she knows he'll be back. Knows he can make her life a living hell if he wants to. After all he's holding her career in his hands. Has enough evidence to take down not only Jane but her as well.

The only reason he sends Agent Fisher and not Cho to get Jane back from the island, is to tease her. Teresa knows the second Jane calls her _Kim _and feels her own eyes lit up in anger. The satisfied grin growing on Abbott's face enough to confirm her suspicions.

And Teresa just wishes Jane would have stayed on that goddamn island for good.

.

When Abbott shows up on her doorstep all over again, she wants to slap him right across the face for more than one reason.

She stands in the doorframe of her house, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

He laughs, clearly amused by her behavior. Tells her that Jane refuses to work for him until she joins his team too. The light she spots in his eyes showing her it's what he'd hoped for.

He makes clear that if she doesn't he's not only going to take down Jane but her as well. Makes clear that he knows that the list Jane tried to threaten him with is only a ruse.

There's not much for her to do but smile and nod. And pack up her things to follow him back to Austin.

.

At first Jane is beaming with life and joy and Teresa feels scared. It seems wrong, out of character. Not like him at all. And she has no idea how to deal with a happy Jane.

After a while, she's only annoyed and glad it's Agent Fisher's job to look after him and not hers.

She watches the two of them banter in the office day after day, no longer surprised everyone thought she'd been sleeping with Jane for years.

Abbott keeps bossing her around, has her stay back in the office just so he can watch her from his desk. Makes her do the paperwork while the others get to catch the bad guys.

Teresa is annoyed. Bored to death. But it's her own fault after all and so she keeps her mouth shut.

It's not like anyone would listen to her anyway.

.

One night Teresa snaps.

She'd been stuck doing paperwork all day long, while Jane and Agent Fisher got the honor to close one of the biggest FBI cases ever.

As soon as the last of her colleagues has left the hallway she walks into Abbott's office, locks the door behind her and starts to pull down the blinds. The way he keeps asking her what the hell she's doing is enough to brush away any doubts she might have had.

She's sick of him telling her what to do. Has enough of being left behind, enough of being treated like a little girl. Enough of being tossed around.

So she does the only thing she knows will make him listen.

She walks over to him to grab him by the collar of his button down, crashing her lips hard against his.

And it's all he needs to lose his cold hearted manner. A heated kiss he'd been waiting for since he took down the CBI three years ago.

He grabs her roughly, pushes her up on his desk with one quick move. His belongings shoved to the floor a second later. His lips never leaving hers, his hands tearing at her clothes.

Everything exactly like Teresa thought it would go.

The only thing she hadn't expected was the possibility that she might like it.

After that first night he stops telling her what to do. Instead of yelling, he offers her a smile and Agent Fisher's shocked expression is more than Teresa dared hope.

He gives her a new job with a new office. Tells her to call him Dennis when they're alone.

She gets her own team, a shiny black SUV all for herself, a new gun and even a much better phone.

Fisher is furious, Jane confused. And Cho amuses her by asking if he can borrow her car.

At first they only meet in his office right after dark, but one night Dennis asks her out for dinner.

They end up in his apartment, sharing a bottle of wine in front of his fireplace. Talking for hours. And when he finally bends down to kiss her, Teresa wonders why she ever hated him in the first place.

It's Grace who asks her if she's fallen in love. Grace who tells her that she's changed, that she seems happier.

Teresa smiles, hands the little girl on the blanket between them her doll. Shakes her head. Nods. Shrugs.

_Maybe she is. Maybe she isn't._

Teresa isn't sure.

She won't get married after all, won't have kids. She never wanted to and Dennis doesn't either. They're both married to their jobs, both committed to what they do best. And that means catching bad guys day and night.

In Dennis, she finally found someone who understands. Who wants the same things she does. Who doesn't need to be told twice, in fact she never has to say anything at all. He always knows what she wants anyway.

Grace laughs at her but of course, the younger woman can't understand.

Teresa says nothing. For her, it's more than enough. This is her own happily ever after.

.

It's Jane who takes her aside one day, makes her spend lunch time with him in a public park. Admits that he made a mistake. Explains that he thinks he killed the wrong guy. That he thinks Red John is still alive.

Teresa stares at him, sits down on the bench beside him and tells herself to breathe.

Jane looks broken, shattered. His eyes filled with pain and sorrow. And Teresa can't help but notice that he's wearing a brand new three pieces suit.

She looks away and down to the pigeons at her feet. Feels her life slipping through her fingers.

And she wonders how long it will take before her reputation will be blown away, how long it will take for her relationship to be destroyed. For her life to be ruined all over again.

She laughs. Wants to cry and scream and run.

But instead she smiles. Nods. Thinking that she's really going to miss her car.

Jane gives her a hug and a smile, tells her how much that means to him. How much she means to him. That he has no idea what he would do without her.

Teresa agrees to meet him after work, cancels her dinner with Dennis on her way back to the office.

Thinks that she'd rather be dead than do this again. Hopes that the devil will come and take her first.

.

Teresa has an hour left before Jane wants to meet her. Barefoot and with her shoes in her hands she makes her way upstairs, knows she needs to hurry if she wants to take a shower first.

It's a bloody red face painted on the wall behind her bed that makes her stop dead in her tracks.

She's standing in the doorframe, her hand still on the doorknob while she stares at the message written only for her.

Not surprised he doesn't plan on sticking to his old pattern.

_See you in hell, love._

Teresa knows she should be scared, knows she should feel the need to scream or run. But what's the point?

_She wouldn't even make it down the stairs._

She feels his breath against her neck, his lips on her skin. His final touch so familiar, so intimate. Gentle, almost like a lovers kiss.

And after all it really is.

.

At least in the end, Teresa Lisbon got one wish granted.

The wish of being the first.

**.**

**.**

* * *

**Disclamer: I own nothing, Everything belongs to their rightful owners.**

**AN: Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read and/or review my stories, that really means the world to me! And of course a big thank you goes to my wonderful beta reader clairebare!**


End file.
